


The Scoop of a Lifetime

by Dkatgal



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: ALL THE ANGST, Angst, Gen, Identity Reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-23
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-19 08:16:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9429506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dkatgal/pseuds/Dkatgal
Summary: Cat is a journalist at heart, and the story ‘Supergirl: The Girl Behind the Hero’ is one just begging to be written.





	1. Research

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Supergirl is sadly not mine.
> 
> Settings: Tweaking the continuity of a few season one episodes. Instead of Cat confronting Kara about her identity at the end of Hostile Takeover, Cat instead makes her move during an AU beginning of Human for a Day.  
> (This is not an episode re-write)
> 
> Spelling warning: I should mention that I'm Australian, so some of the spelling may seem a little off. Lots of the letter s where the little z usually is, and some u's in weird places cos I can't bring myself to use American spelling. However, if you do notice any Kat, instead of Cat please let me know. It's hard to have to mis-spell my own name, but I'll keep to the canon characters spelling.

The problem with niggling thoughts was that they festered at the back of the mind, taking root, and growing with each moment until finally they burst free, anxious to be validated. After nearly 30 years in the journalism business, Cat Grant wasn’t a stranger to finding a story that gnawed at her thoughts, waiting to be put to paper. 

The evidence had been mounting for weeks; Cat’s certainty that her meek little assistant Kara Danvers and the dashing hero Supergirl were one and the same had taken hold of her, and Cat was nothing if not thorough. Her assistant’s absences had piled up, all coinciding with a heroic encounter somewhere in National City. The faint smell of smoke, or sea water, or grass clinging to the girl after a hasty return, followed by a stuttering explanation was also cause for concern.

Cat had pulled every record that she could on Kara Danvers, turning the young woman’s life upside down and inside out, determined to get to the truth. Kara’s personal records were immaculate, not a single piece of evidence of the young woman’s life was missing. Everything was in order, from her birth certificate to her passport and drivers licence. But still, despite all the evidence that Kara Danvers was exactly who she said she was, there was still something just slightly...off.

Cat wasn’t 100% certain of her theory, of course. There was always the 0.01% chance that she could be wrong, that Kara was just an average young woman who was exceptional at being an assistant. But, Cat had learned to trust her instincts, which is what has led her to the story that was being fleshed out on the laptop in front of her. ‘Supergirl: The Girl Behind The Hero’. This was the story of a lifetime, and while Cat tried not to think about how it would earn her a Pulitzer, she knew that Lois Lane would definitely be disappointed this year.

Cat looked up from the near-finished article, taking a moment to stare at the object of her thoughts. Kara was seated at her desk outside Cat’s office, speaking on the phone with a light smile on her face. Fast fingers danced over the keyboard, and Cat wondered how much of Kara’s efficiency as her assistant came from literally being a superhero.

A sliver of doubt ran through Cat’s mind, not that she was wrong about Kara’s identity, but about what would happen afterwards. Kara would have to leave CatCo, that much was certain. And, as much as Cat enjoyed having a competent assistant, Kara would be able to better serve National City away from a humdrum position in an office. The thought of having a full-time superhero protecting National City felt right, and Cat was certain this was the best thing to do. 

Pulling her thoughts back to her article, Cat continued writing, her thoughts flowing nearly faster than her fingers could keep up with as she laid bare the tale of a hero who led such an ordinary life; that careful balance between hero and helper that was Kara Danvers spilling out onto the screen in front of her. 

Nearly an hour later, Cat’s attention was pulled away from her story as she noticed the hushed silence of the bullpen outside her office. She looked up and saw nearly every member of her staff staring at the mounted television screens through the office. Cat swung her chair 180°, seeing the twenty screens behind her all focusing on one story. Supergirl was desperately battling some sort of red automaton. A statement from the ‘FBI’ had announced that the android had been an army experiment that had become unstable.

Unstable was definitely one word for it, Cat mused. Supergirl was taking quite a beating, her movements slowing down with each hit the android landed on her. Cat heard the simultaneous gasp from every member of her team as Supergirl took a vicious kick to her ribs, and flew twenty feet to land heavily on her back. The camera work was shaky, but it was easy to see that Supergirl was struggling to stand. After a nearly endless moment, the hero managed to regain her feet, and then twin red beams shot from her eyes. 

The android seemed to almost be absorbing the energy, taking slow steps towards Supergirl, who seemed to re-double her efforts. Though there was no sound from any of Cat’s screens, Cat could almost hear the hero’s scream of rage. 

For nearly forty seconds, the scream continued, the red beams shooting viciously at the android until finally, finally, it exploded into thousands of pieces. Supergirl stumbled, her heat vision abruptly stopping, and she fell to one knee. From the rise of her shoulders, Cat could tell the hero was taking deep breaths, though whether to calm herself down, or to stop herself from passing out was up for debate. 

Eventually Supergirl pushed herself to her feet. The camera caught a close-up snippet of her face, and Cat was stunned to see drips of blood below her nostrils. The hero turned away from the camera, and the shot returned to a wide-angle as black SUV’s raced onto the scene. After a brief discussion with a woman with short brown hair, Supergirl went with the ‘FBI’ agents, the dark-haired woman bracing one arm under Supergirl’s shoulder, practically holding the hero upright. For the first time in history, the hero was trundled into the back seat of an SUV, instead of flying away under her own power.

Outside Cat’s office, the CatCo team began filing back to their desks, returning to work now that their hero had eliminated the latest threat. Of course, there was one glaring exception. Kara Danvers was nowhere to be seen.

\------------------------------------------------------

Nearly an hour later, Kara had still not returned to her desk, and though Cat was loathe to admit it, she couldn’t help but be concerned. Picking up her phone, she dialled James Olsen’s extension, and without allowing him even a moment to talk, demanded he bring the latest layouts to her office.

When James finally arrived, Cat stared at him over the rim of her glasses.

“James, I need you to get in contact with Supergirl. After today’s fight, there are a lot of people who wish to hear her story, and see for themselves that their hero has lived to fly another day.”

James glanced at the screens behind Cat’s desk, the bulk of which were re-running Supergirl’s latest fight, several of the channels speculating on her health and theorising that the android had done serious damage to the Kryptonian.

“I don’t think she’ll really be up for a chat right now,” James prevaricated. 

“I don’t pay you to think, Mr Olsen, I pay you to do. Now do what I told you, and get in contact with her.”

“I’ll get in touch. But I make no promises.” With that, he turned and left the office, already pulling his cell phone from his pocket to make a call.

Cat returned to her article, more determined than ever to make the story the best piece of journalism in history. This was the story that people wanted to hear: the truth of Supergirl’s life. The idea of an ordinary assistant doing the extraordinary would inspire countless people, make the everyday person sit up and think ‘I could do that’. Maybe they wouldn’t be able to fly, or shoot laser beams from their eyes, but any part of Supergirl’s story that could inspire people to their own brand of heroism was exactly what National City needed.


	2. Reveal

With Kara not returning to the office for the rest of the afternoon, Cat found herself with even more words tumbling from her fingertips, wondering if the speed with which she was typing was as fast as the Girl of Steel’s. She tried not to let herself feel worried for Supergirl; the Kryptonian was notoriously difficult to damage after all. However, having seen how slowly Supergirl had risen the final time after her fight, Cat couldn’t help but be concerned. 

No matter which source she spoke with, she had yet to uncover the truth of the Agency that Supergirl worked with. It was obvious that the ‘FBI’ agents that were often seen in her vicinity no more belonged to the Bureau than Cat herself did, however uncovering their true organisation was one stone that would remain unturned. 

The hours passed, and Cat put the finishing touches on her article, reading and re-reading over the text, pleased with the result. It would be her best-selling story yet. She’d decided to publish a singular issue, with the exposé as the only topic. Sifting through the hundreds of shots of Supergirl that the various CatCo photographers had managed to capture since Supergirl’s introduction, Cat had chosen the two dozen clearest photos that showed her face and her heroics. 

The photo that still stood out the most was that first shot of Supergirl, bathed in the searchlight from a helicopter, as she stood dripping wet on the wing of a downed plane, dressed in black clothing. It was a stunning shot, even with the poor quality of the image. 

Cat’s curiosity had led her to wonder what it was about the plane that had spurred Kara into action. There had been numerous disasters in the time that the girl had been Cat’s assistant, and yet it was the plane crash that had started it all. A few phone calls and two promises of favours later, Cat had received a copy of the flight manifest. One name stood out above the others, and suddenly Cat had found her 0.01% of doubt completely gone. There, in row 14, seat A was Alexandra Danvers. 

That revelation had deserved a full page spread of its own, starring opposite that first picture of the new hero. Supergirl’s call to action for the sake of a loved one would resonate with every one of CatCo’s readership. 

Finding photos of Kara Danvers had been somewhat harder. For a millennial, Kara didn’t have much of an online presence. Her Instagram account (username: SpacePuppy) held very few photos of Kara herself. There were a lot of photos of food, and her friends, but what few photos there with Kara in the picture always had her face somehow obscured. As though she didn’t want people to look too closely and compare her to another blonde hared millennial. 

Cat found a few photos of Kara on the CatCo servers, pictures taken at the last Christmas party, and Kara’s profile photo making it into the article. The profile photo was displayed next to the clearest photo of Supergirl that Cat had been able to find, and the resemblance was unmistakeable. 

The CEO worked through the night, putting the finishing touches on the layout of the 16-page magazine herself, not trusting anyone else to even glimpse the special feature before it made it to print, perfecting each piece of the story and aligning the scoop of the century with relevant photos.

When her eyes began burning with exhaustion, Cat finally forced herself to pull away from her work. 3:46 AM. She quickly saved everything to a flash drive, and put the USB device safely into her purse.

Tiredly, she called for a cab and made her way home, falling into her bed, exhausted from the long day.

It felt like minutes later when her alarm began to sound. With a tired groan, Cat forced herself out of bed, thanking her lucky stars that Carter as with his father this week. Being barely 5.30 AM, Cat was exhausted after the long night, but she knew that today was going to be a very busy day.

Taking her seldom used car out of the lock-up garage, she beat the morning traffic to the printing house that CatCo owned. At this time of morning, the place was empty, which was exactly how Cat had planned it. She fired up the printing press, and moved into the control room. Booting up the state of the art machinery that controlled the CatCo printing press, Cat carefully inserted the flash drive, and opened the spread. 

She used the next twenty minutes to re-edit her work, knowing that her 2am self had likely made some mistakes the evening before. After fixing the few errors with grammar and spelling, Cat sent the command to send the issue to the printer. 200,000 copies of a 16 page scoop of the century began speedily printing and Cat watched in delight as the magazine was printed, folded, pressed and bundled into stacks awaiting delivery.

Cat plucked a copy off the press and felt the shine of pride thrum through her at the glossy magazine, showcasing the City’s hero in high-definition colour. 

Letting the printer do its work, Cat sent a tweet out from the CatCo official account. ‘Expect something amazing today: Exclusive content coming to your local newsagent. #CatCo #Supergirl’

Within half an hour, Cat’s tweet was trending state-wide.

By 9am the printing was complete, and while the CatCo workers were making their way into the office, 5 delivery trucks were loading the bundled magazines into their truck-beds and beginning their drop-offs. The manager of the printing office had been stunned to find the CEO in the building, and the printing press already finished churning out a magazine spread that he’d had no idea was coming.

He caught sight of the bundled magazines, the front page showing a capture of a close-up of Supergirl and the headline ‘The Girl Behind The Hero’ blazing across the top. “Is this - ?”

Cat smirked. “It is.”

The manager reached for a copy, and Cat stopped him with a glare. “Oh, no you don’t. That particular exclusive will be released to the world at promptly 10am today. No one is getting a look at that until then.”

Cat’s legal team had been awoken about a minute after Cat’s alarm had shaken her out of bed. The team had worked on securing an embargo notice for the magazine, ensuring that any newsagent who sold, opened, or released the CatCo issue prior to 10am on the dot would be hit with a ten million dollar penalty. The embargo notice had been printed and attached to each bundle of the magazine. 

Cat glanced at her phone. 9:26am. Thirty-four minutes until the magazine’s release. Bringing her copy of the magazine with her, Cat drove to the office, cursing the peak-hour traffic. She made up to level forty at 9:49am and was greeted by Kara, sans latte.

“Ms Grant, I’m so sorry, if I’d known what time you were arriving, I’d have picked you up a latte,” Kara apologised, half running to keep up with Cat’s long strides as they made their way from Cat’s private elevator into her office. Cat barely noticed how pale her assistant was, though did notice that Kara stumbled a little as they moved from the bullpen into Cat’s office.

“With me Keira,” Cat instructed. “Close the door.”

Kara nervously complied, and closed the door to Cat’s office. “I rescheduled all your morning appointments when I realised you would be late,” Kara blurted out anxiously when the silence became too much for her to bare.

“Do you know why I was running late this morning Keira?”

“N-no, I don’t.”

“You didn’t see my tweet?”

“Uh, yes. You have exclusive Supergirl content to release? I didn’t know you’d had another interview.”

“No, not an interview; something much better than that,” Cat sad. “I got her story.”

Kara gulped nervously. “H-her story, Ms Grant?”

Cat smirked, the proverbial cat that ate the canary. “I’m not an idiot Keira, no matter what you may think. And while your glasses may be trendy, and your ponytails obnoxiously perky, you can’t hide from me.”

Cat watched as her assistant went completely pale. Almost by reflex Kara took a seat on the couch behind her. A sheen of sweat covered Kara’s pale forehead, something Cat had never seen happen to her usually calm and collected assistant.

“I’m not sure what you you’re talking about,” Kara said, unable to meet her boss’s eyes.

Cat sighed wearily, and strode forward, shoving her copy of the magazine into her assistants’ hands. 

Kara’s yes flitted across the headline and she felt her mind spin. Her vision went slightly black for a single instant and nausea rose up within her chest.

“What...what is this?”

“Exactly what it looks like,” Cat said. “I almost called it ‘The Life and Times of Supergirl’, but I thought that was a little obnoxious. This has such a nice ring to it.”

With shaking hands Kara opened the front page, only to find more pictures of herself staring back. And not just pictures of Supergirl. Pictures of Kara Danvers. And there, on the opposite page, her human name written for all to see.

“You can’t print this,” Kara protested, shooting angrily to her feet.

“Can’t? Keira, I already have. It’s hitting the stands in about, oh, 60 seconds,” Cat said. “The biggest scoop of a lifetime, sitting right outside my office this entire time.”

“Cat, I’m begging you, please don’t,” Kara pleaded. 

“This city deserves the truth Keira, and frankly having you here for most of the day is a waste of your talents. You should be out there, saving people, not in here fetching coffee for me,” Cat replied. “I’ll need your resignation of course; I can’t have Supergirl stay on as my assistant. That’s a little too self-aggrandising, even for me.”

Kara shook her head in disbelief, stunned that her mentor would betray her like this. So casually, so heartlessly. 

“I’m not Supergirl!” Kara cried, moving away from the couch and towards her boss.

“I already told you, I’m not an idiot. Facts are facts, and your story is about to break in....three, two, one,” Cat stared at her watch as she counted down. She turned to face the television screens mounted above her desk. “I give it twenty seconds before my story gets plastered across every news station in America.”

Kara looked on in disbelief. Cat’s prediction of twenty seconds was wrong. It was barely ten seconds before her CatCo profile picture was displayed alongside a photo of Supergirl.

Kara’s phone chirped from her pocket, and she pulled it out to see her sister’s name on the screen. She quickly pressed the decline button, forcing the call to voicemail. “Ms Grant, wh–why? Why would you - ”

“Kara, National City needs its hero. You needed to be pushed, and this is my way of doing that. The world needs to know that ordinary people can be heroic, and my story will give people exactly what they need. Hope that they too can rise above their sad little lives, in mediocre jobs and become heroes. You should be thanking me.”

Kara was too stunned to formulate a coherent response.

After the mess of yesterday’s battle with Red Tornado, coming in to work had been a battle all on its own. Tired, aching, and coming to the realisation that she’d lost her powers in what her cousin called a Solar Flare, Kara had hoped that the normality of a day at CatCo would allow her to relax somewhat.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kara noticed that the workers in the bullpen had started to gather outside Cat’s office, the glass walls allowing them to a glimpse of their co-worker turned Supergirl. Kara’s eyes caught sight of a worried looking Winn. 

“Well,” Kara sighed, resigned to her fate. “I suppose it’s already too late.”

Her phone rang again and Cat nodded towards it. “I’d say your handler is trying to reach you.”

Kara hesitated, before pushing ‘accept’. “Hello?”

“Kara, what the actual fuck happened?! Did you tell her?!” came Alex’s furious voice.

“No, of course not. But, I need to get out of here,” Kara said, feeling the weight of the eyes of her co-workers burning into her.

“If ever there was a time for your powers to crap out, this definitely wasn’t one of them,” Alex complained.

Kara felt a startled laugh burst from her mouth. “Yeah, you’re telling me.”

“Alright, I’m already on my way to you, ETA is about 4 minutes. I don’t think I have to tell you this, but the only thing you say to anyone from here on is ‘no comment’, you got me?”

“Yeah, I got you,” Kara replied. 

“Put her on,” Alex demanded.

“What?”

“Put your boss on the phone.”

Kara took a moment to debate the pros and cons of such a move, before handing the phone to Cat. The woman took it with a raised eyebrow and brought the device to her ear. “Yes?”

“I don’t know what the hell you thought you were trying to prove, but you just single-handedly killed Kara Danvers.”

“Alexandra Danvers, I presume? For whom Supergirl emerged to save a plane?” Cat asked.

“You’re a real piece of work, lady. And trust me when I say, I will destroy you -”

“If it’s the last thing you’ll do?” Cat finished dryly. “As though I’ve never heard that before.” She disengaged the call and handed Kara’s phone back to her.

The two women stared at each other. Kara was the first to look away, her eyes burning with tears. 

“You can use my balcony for a quick getaway if you’d like,” Cat offered.

Kara almost felt like laughing. “I’m not planning on killing myself, thanks.”

“You’re still going to pretend, after everything? Why bother?”

“Because, I don’t have superpowers, Ms Grant. I can’t fly,” Kara stressed. 

And after yesterday’s battle with the android, that statement was completely true. Her cousin has told her that his bouts with Solar Flares could last anywhere between hours up to 2 days. Right now, Kara had never felt less like Supergirl.

Cat took a seat behind her desk and fired up her laptop. “Kara, you need to learn to own your power. Being a strong, independent woman is nothing to be ashamed of, and if young women across the globe are going to look up to you as a role model, the first thing you’ll need to do is quit feeling sorry for yourself, get back out there and start saving the day or whatever it is you superheroes feel the need to do.”

Kara’s phone chirped with a text message from Alex. ‘ _We’re in my car downstairs. Remember, no comments_.’ 

“I can’t say I understand what you did Ms Grant. And I won’t say that I’m even a little bit okay with this. What you did...exposing me like this...it’s - .” Kara stopped, and took a breath. “You were my idol, Ms Grant. Someone I looked up to and admired. Ironically, what I admired you for was telling the hard stories that no one else would tell. But what I also admired was that you knew when to hold back. When a story would do more harm than good, and that the people’s right to know, didn’t extend to every story that crossed your desk.”

“What harm has it done, Keira? You’re trending world-wide right now. Your name is now synonymous with hope, and I made that happen. Ride the wave, enjoy it. You millennials usually love to be heard, well, I made sure that every person on earth will listen when you speak. So, quite whining, and make the most of it,” Cat retorted. “Now, I’m accepting this as your resignation, and I’ll even pay out the full two weeks’ notice you won’t be able to give.”

Another text alert sounded, and Kara’s attention was pulled down to her phone. ‘ _There are reporters everywhere, Hank’s standing by with some DEO muscle if needed. Contingency Plan J is in place._ ’

Kara’s eyes slammed shut at the message. She took a deep breath, and then tapped out a quick reply ‘coming’ before taking one final look at Cat. She wished she had something witty to say, something that would shake the sense into her boss, make her regret, even the slightest bit, how much she had just ruined Kara’s life.

But no words came, and Kara turned her back and walked out of the office to a cacophony of questions from her co-workers. James and Winn shouldered their way through the crowd, and herded Kara into the elevator, James sternly pushing back anyone else who tried to enter. Winn frantically pushed the Close Door button until they were safely on their way down to the ground floor.

“This is such a mess,” Kara lamented quietly.

“How did she even find out?” Winn asked.

Kara shook her head. “She wouldn’t say. Just kept repeating that she wasn’t an idiot.”

“Well, she is an investigative journalist,” James reminded them. “The clues are there, and once she gets an idea in her head, she is like a dog with a bone.”

“So, you’re saying she’s a bitch?” Winn quipped, trying desperately to lighten the mood. 

“I appreciate all the help you gave me,” Kara said quietly. “This would have been impossible without you both.” 

James’s hand listed to Kara’s shoulder, squeezing supportively. “We’ve got your back, Kara, no matter what.”

“Yeah, Kar, you know you can count on us. And if you wanted me to hack into the CatCo servers and leak some embarrassing photos of Ms Grant, I would totally be up for that,” Winn offered.

Kara smiled weakly. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

The elevator came to a halt and the doors opened. The trio made their way across the lobby, not stopping despite the curious stares that Kara was receiving. Outside the doors, at least twenty reporters were waiting. 

Winn felt his face scrunch up in distaste. “They are like vultures.” 

“Alex said that there are some DEO agents here if anyone gets out of control,” Kara said. She took a deep breath. “I don’t think it’s safe for you guys to come with me. The last we need is either of your faces ending up on the news along with mine.”

The two men protested simultaneously at Kara’s suggestion, but the blonde held firm. 

“I can handle this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be continued...


	3. Retreat

The moment she stepped out the doors, the cacophony of noise coming from shouted questions was intense. Kara felt herself being shoved and pulled by grabbing hands as reporters tried to manoeuvre her closer to their microphones and cameras. She kept her hands up near her face, and went with Alex’s advice, answering ‘no comment’ to every question that she was asked as she desperately tried to make it to the bottom of the stairs where her sister’s car was waiting.

“Supergirl, why were you working at CatCo?” 

“Are you and Cat Grant having an affair?”

“Are there other aliens working at CatCo?”

“Supergirl, when did Cat Grant discover you were her assistant?”

“Miss Danvers, how long have you been living under a fraudulent identity?”

Kara forced herself to stay calm, somewhat grateful that she didn’t have her powers, and so wasn’t tempted to throw every one of these reporters up into space.

“We don’t want no stinkin’ aliens here!” came a vicious voice from the crowd. “You should go back where you came from!”

There was some more shoving, and then a fist was gripping her shirt, and pulling her forward violently. A second first came crushing down on her face barely a second later. The crowd of reporters scattered, leaving Kara facing a large and angry man. The second punch was no less forceful than the first, and Kara felt her lip split and her eyes water.

There was a rush of movement, DEO agents in black swarming the man, who angrily fought them off. He tore free from their hold and in an instant pulled a gun from a hidden holster beneath his jacket. “You ain’t welcome here, ET.”

A split second later, two gunshots sounded as well as screams from the scattering crowd. Her attacker’s grip went slack, and Kara felt a splatter of blood hit her face from the exit wound in the man’s neck. She felt light-headed and dizzy, her feet stumbling a moment, before she fell to her knees. A sharp pain registered in her stomach, and she looked down to see a dark red stain beginning to blossom over her shirt.

She fell sideways, her hip hitting the sharp jutting edge of the stairs, and she tried to push herself up with no luck. She took a moment to rest, her fingers tremulously finding the edge of the bleeding wound, until a soft hand grabbed hold of hers and she felt pressure being pressed against her side.

“Kara, are you with me?” Alex’s gentle voice sounded shaky, not at all like her usual forceful self.

“Y-yup. With you,” Kara stuttered out. 

“We’re going to get you back to the DEO,” Alex said, looking over her shoulder at the man in question. “Supergirl should be on scene any second.”

Kara stared at her sister, wondering if the woman had hit her head. “W-w-what?”

“I told you Kara. Plan J.”

That made less than no sense to Kara, whose head was already swimming with blood loss. So, when a familiar looking superhero in blue and red landed gracefully on the steps outside of CatCo, Kara wondered if maybe she had hit her own head. 

“Wait, what?”

Kara felt strong arms gather her up, and found herself looking into familiar blue eyes. A muttered Kryptonian oath fell from her lips as she was lifted up from the ground. 

“Let’s get you to a hospital, Miss Danvers,” Supergirl said. 

There was a flurry of camera flashes as Supergirl flew off with Kara Danvers cradled in her arms, camera crews and reporters excitedly rattling off a live action broadcast of what should have been impossible.

A reporter from the Daily Planet took a certain amount of glee in reporting: “in a stunning twist of events, Supergirl was seen rescuing Kara Danvers, the woman whom CatCo Worldwide Media had accused of being the hero herself. The world will be anxiously waiting to hear what Cat Grant has to say about wrongly accusing her own assistant of being Supergirl. We can only wait to hear what the Queen of All Media will have to say in her defence; however one thing is clear, Kara Danvers is _not_ Supergirl.”

\--------------------------------

Cat Grant had sat watching the news feeds, wondering why Kara had subjected herself to going out the front doors of the office when she could have just as easily flown away, and avoided the reporters completely. The barrage of questions being thrown at the young woman was standard, though Kara didn’t answer any of them.

She was surprised when Kara was grabbed and hauled towards a large man, and was stunned when that same man punched her twice in quick succession. Kara hadn’t made a move to fight back, and Cat wondered why the woman was being so passive. She could have had her assailant lying flat on his back and crying for his mother in seconds, and yet she hadn’t.

A quick struggle between the man and the ‘FBI’ agents, and then the flash of a gun had Cat sitting upright in her chair and reaching for the remote to the main screen. She quickly turned up the volume, watching in horror as blood began seeping through Kara’s shirt.

 _It’s a trick_ , Cat thought, _it has to be_. 

She watched her former assistant tumble on the stairs, and a familiar looking FBI agent came to kneel at her side. Then, a flash of blue and red blurred across the screen and somehow, impossibly, Supergirl was lifting Kara into her strong arms and flying smoothly away.

Impossible. It had to be impossible. Cat wasn’t wrong. She knew she hadn’t been _wrong_.

Her phone rang, startling her out of her stupor. She lifted the receiver and then promptly hung it up again. She didn’t even care who was trying to reach her.

Cat frantically reached for the magazine that she’d so proudly released not even twenty minutes ago. She’d spent so long researching, documenting, fact-finding. Her over-night rush to get everything finished had been due to her excitement at getting the story out there, at starting conversations all throughout the world. But even with the last minute rush to get to print, she hadn’t been wrong.

Her phone rang again, and again Cat slammed the receiver down without saying anything.

Her cell phone chimed with a text message, and Cat found herself reaching over to it automatically. She winced when she saw the contact name Lois Lame. ‘ _So, when your company goes bust after this, I’ll be buying you out and calling it LLMedia. Well done on getting an employee shot btw. That really sold your Supergirl theory._ ’

Cat nearly threw her phone at the wall, but forced herself to stop from losing her temper. 

Lane certainly had cut right to the heart of the matter. Her company was done, or at least Cat Grant was done. She’d been proven wrong on national television, her assistant had been shot down in the street, and Cat Grant had been writer, editor and designer of the magazine that has caused it.

Alex Danvers wouldn’t even need to fulfil her threat of destroying Cat Grant. Cat had managed to do that all on her own.


	4. Revelation

Within 6 hours of releasing what should have been Cat’s crowning glory, the CEO of CatCo Worldwide Media had stepped down from her position as head of the company. CatCo’s stocks had been plummeting all day, and the Board had called for Cat’s resignation. Cat had negotiated a sizeable severance package, and then announced her decision to step-down from her position of leadership the world.

The news stories of the day had been re-running the series of events over and over, in a never-ending cycle, much to Cat’s dismay. She’d written a retraction and recalled every unsold issue of the magazine to be destroyed. 

An hour after Cat’s announcement, she was back in her office for what would be the final time, packing up her personal belongings and delegating responsibilities to the various department heads. She coerced two of the male workers to take her belongings down to her town car while she poured herself one final drink.

She stepped onto the balcony, watching the sunset one last time from the best view in the city al while refusing to let herself feel worried about Kara Danvers. 

She wasn’t surprised to see the flash of blue and red from the corner of her eye. She turned, drink in hand, and raised her glass in salute to the superhero. 

“Ms Grant,” Supergirl greeted sombrely.

“Supergirl. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Cat asked.

“Kara Danvers died ten minutes ago,” the superhero said.

Cat felt her heart clench, her knees going weak as she sat on the outdoor sofa. “You’re lying.”

Supergirl shook her head. “I wish I was.”

“No, I know you’re lying. I know you’re her! Just tell me the truth, dammit, for once in your life!” Cat yelled.

“The truth is that I don’t trust you!” the superhero cried bitterly. “I will never be able to trust you. You put your own ego above the safety of someone who trusted you, and now their life is over.”

Cat closed her eyes, hating every part of the day that she’d had. Hating the distance that she’d forced between herself and the hero that she admired so much. There had been something so rewarding about being the person that Supergirl came to for advice and solace. And now, she’d destroyed not only her relationship with Supergirl, but Kara Danvers as well.

“The Danvers lives will never be the same, thanks to you,” Supergirl said. “You put every part of their lives under a microscope. Some redneck tried to fire-bomb Eliza Danvers house, even after your retraction.”

Cat sighed, closing her eyes tiredly. “I never wanted that to happen,” she said.

“Didn’t want it, or didn’t think enough about it to consider what would happen? The damage that you would cause?”

“Both!” Cat cried, feeling tears rush to her eyes. “I never meant to hurt you Or your family.”

“As far as the rest of the world will be concerned, I don’t have a family, Ms Grant. You can tell them that for me. Your last big scoop,” Supergirl said with a bite Cat hadn’t been aware she could carry. 

“I won’t be publishing anything,” Cat whispered. “Every again.”

There was a long pause as the two women stared at each other, wondering how the day could have taken such a drastically wrong turn. How they’d managed to destroy each other within the space of six hours.

“I am sorry you lost your job,” Supergirl admitted. “I know how much it means to you. What being a journalist means to you.”

“I’ll never be taken seriously again,” Cat said. “I’ll be a laughing stock for the rest of my life. But, I suppose that’s a fair trade. Considering what I did to you.”

“What you did to Kara,” Supergirl corrected. “It was her life you exposed. Her life you threatened. Her family, her friends. I wonder if you ever even gave her a single thought when you were writing that article.”

The former CEO drained the rest of her drink in a single gulp. “I wonder that, too.”

Supergirl took a seat on the sofa opposite Cat and leant forward to study the older woman. 

“You know, Kara loved this place. Working for you, learning from you. It was where she needed to be. I’m not sure that you ever really understood how much you meant to her,” Supergirl said. “You were her mentor, the one person she could count on to provide the hard truths that everyone else in her life was too nice to let her hear.”

Cat stared down at the empty glass in her hands, blinking furiously to try to stem the tears threatening to fall. She’d been so careful to limit her thoughts to Supergirl the entire time she’d been preparing that article. She’d never once let herself think about the effects it would have on Kara Danvers, assistant extraordinaire. Letting herself think too much about Kara Danvers was a one-way ticket to madness.

“I’m leaving National City,” Supergirl said. 

“Please don’t do that,” Cat begged. “This city needs you.”

“There are other cities, other people who will need help. Right now, National City needs for people to be their own heroes. Wasn’t that the whole point of your article? To make people stand up, be inspired?” Supergirl asked.

“Yes. Though, I don’t think many people actually got to see the sub-text to the article,” Cat said.

“Well, maybe what you need is a reminder that we are not just our names. I’m not just Supergirl anymore than you are just the Queen of All Media. There are other ways to get messages across. And you don’t have to be a Queen to inspire hope in people.”

Cat brought a shaky hand up to wipe a tear from her eye. “Why are you helping me? After everything that happened today? Why on Earth, or Krypton, or any other planet would you ever forgive me?”

“Part of being human is having compassion, learning to forgive,” Supergirl replied. “And I may not be completely human, but some things are universal. I believe that’s one of them”

Cat sighed and stood on shaky legs. The superhero stood with her, stepping closer to ensure the woman didn’t collapse from the overwhelming day.

“I am sorry, Kara,” Cat said, staring into blue eyes. “And I know you’ll deny being her, but I had to say it.”

Supergirl stayed quiet, neither acknowledging nor denying the sentiment. After a moment of silence, Cat moved back inside, taking one final look around her office. Supergirl remained on the balcony, stepping up to the doorframe, but not entering the office.

“Where will you go?” the hero asked.

“Somewhere no one knows the name Cat Grant,” came the wry reply.

“So, Antarctica, then?”

Cat smirked. “One of the downfalls of fame; when you fall, you fall hard.”

“What people will remember though is how you rise,” Supergirl said. “I believe you can do anything you put your mind to, Cat.”

Cat picked up the magazine that had started all this chaos and flipped to the page that showed the comparison between the photos of Supergirl and Kara Danvers.

“Will you tell me honestly, off all records, and knowing that no one will ever believe a word I say about you ever again...can you please just tell me that you are Kara Danvers?”

Supergirl shook her head, and Cat sighed in defeat. She had lost the right to any trust, and she supposed she couldn’t blame the woman for being skittish.

“It’s Zor-El.”

Cat looked up sharply. “What?”

“My name is Kara Zor-El,” she said, taking a leap of faith that the woman had learned a hard lesson over the last few hours. 

Cat felt her heart unclench for the first time in hours. She would get angry later, but for right now all she could feel was relief that Kara wasn’t dead. 

“And Kara Danvers?” Cat asked.

“Gone. With Kara Danvers dead, and proof that she wasn’t Supergirl, her family will be safe,” Kara said. “No one should come after them.”

“So, everything outside of CatCo was staged?” Cat had to know. 

Kara shook her head. “No, Kara Danvers did get shot. And the man who shot her was killed by the D – FBI. And Supergirl did fly her off to a hospital, where she later died of her injuries.”

“I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me how that works?”

“Not a chance,” Kara replied. 

Cat sighed and nodded, knowing what little trust she’d earned back tonight, she still had a long way to go. 

“I’m never going to see you again, am I?” Cat asked, sadly.

“Oh, I wouldn’t say never. I’m only one call away,” Kara said.

“Please do not quote that insipid song at me,” Cat said, even as she felt her lips curl into their first smile in hours.

“Hey, it’s true you know. He’s got nothing on me,” Kara couldn’t help but finish.

Cat shook her head fondly. She would miss this extraordinary young woman more than she could put into words. 

“Good luck, Cat,” Kara said sincerely. “I hope that you find your way.”

“Oh don’t worry too much about me, Supergirl,” Cat said with a smile. “Cat’s always land on their feet.” 

END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that's the whole thing.
> 
> I think my main struggle with this fic is that I never believed that Cat would ever publish Kara's identity.  
> I do believe whole-heartedly that Cat has the story written in a very securely hidden place, because she is a writer, and Kara's story is so damn compelling. 
> 
> The original story was going to have Adam revenge releasing the story on the CatCo website, but the more I thought about it, the more I just wanted Cat to own it. So, no, I don't believe that canon Cat would ever do this. And you can kind of see that in the bittersweet ending of this fic.


End file.
